The church of San Cesareo de Appia in Rome, commonly and mistakenly called San Cesareo in Palatio, is a church in Rome, in the Celio district, near the Porta San Sebastiano.
This church has ancient origins: it dates back to the 8th century and was built on remains of pre-existing Roman structures, which can still be seen in the underground area (remains of a mosaic floor, with marine scenes from the 2nd century AD). It is also called San Cesareo in Turrim in medieval sources, “certainly due to the proximity of some very tall tower, of which the medieval city was full” (Armellini, op. cit., p. 595); in the 16th century the name San Cesareo in Palatio also appeared, causing much confusion with the homonymous church in the Campitelli district.
Over the centuries, the church changed hands several times and was repeatedly renovated: in the 14th century it was entrusted to the Crociferi to found a hospital that offered shelter to pilgrims entering through the nearby Porta San Sebastiano; they were succeeded by Benedictine nuns; in the 15th century it was entrusted to the care of the nearby Church of San Sisto Vecchio and then to that of the Church of Saints Nereo and Achilleo; it was completely restored in the 16th century by the Cavalier d’Arpino, and then entrusted to the Somaschi Fathers. On this occasion, the 13th-century mosaics and other architectural furnishings that were in the transept of the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano, which was undergoing renovation at that time, were transferred here.
The church features a very simple façade with an entrance door preceded by a porch with granite columns. The interior has a single nave. On the side walls, between the windows, there are mosaics by the Cavalier d’Arpino, depicting scenes from the life of San Cesareo. In the apse basin, a mosaic depicts God the Father among angels. The altar, the ambo, the cathedra, and the presbytery screens are architectural elements that belonged to the Basilica of San Giovanni: they are mostly composed of heterogeneous elements dating back to the 13th century.
The pipe organ of the church of San Cesareo de Appia was built between 1997 and 1999 by Francesco Saverio Colamarino, reusing an electric organ as a console and applying a multiplex system for the stops. The instrument has two manuals of 61 notes each and a pedalboard of 32.
